smörgåsblogg
There's some stores in Göteborg with some pretty funny names. If anybody wants anything from Brooklyn Rock and Pop Merchandise, just let us know.
Any idea what this is?
Answer to last week: The sign basically says, "No junk mail, thanks! But gladly the IKEA catalog." We have one on our mailbox, and we've seen them on mailboxes all over around here. I used to think that IKEA was a novel, unique store in the U.S. but that people here in Sweden would think it was nothing special, just another store. Instead we are finding that IKEA is just as popular here.
Hope your birthday was as fun as you are funny, Isiah!
It's Ali's 2nd week in Swedish class; it's 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus homework. Poor girl.
Today Ebba took us mushroom picking in the forest. It is amazing how many different varieties you can find when you just start looking around. Click here to see lots of pictures of what we found.
The rains stopped so we went for a walk in town. Claes is trying a new hair conditioning product.
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The only thing more fun than having a spoon to play with? Two spoons of course.
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The mandatory fika pause. Latte so good, one can almost forget that they handed over their arm & leg to the cashier.
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Aren't I cute?
Everyone complains about the low pay & high taxes, yet they're all out shopping.
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A lot of stores have a little self-service gift wrapping area just after the cashier. Very convenient for buying gifts on the way to a party.
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...and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and it's still raining but it's 5pm on a Friday so how bad can it be?
All Swedes or those who know Swedish are not eligible this week--sorry! Please translate and explain where this sign would be posted. No cheating by looking in a Swedish dictionary allowed!!
Answer to last week: Casey was closest--it was a gurka (pickle). See:
Nobody ever touches their food here. Ever. The most amusing part is that people eat pizza and even hamburgers with a knife & fork; sometimes even at McDonalds.
The weather has been changing quickly, sometimes several times in the same day. We've had both blinding sun & blinding rain this weekend.
We both got our official Id-kort (identification card) last night, then broke them in by getting a biblioteks-kort (library card). The library seems to have a good selection of english books, so now I can borrow books instead of spending all of our money buying them.
Welcome Stan, the newest member of the Norén family! I've been assured he is already housebroken.
![StantheMan[1].JPG](http://leo.werberg.net/ali/archives/StantheMan[1].JPG)
You know the drill. What is this a picture of?
Answer to last week: Yup, that was a photo of my homemade bread. I have been experimenting wtih different flours/grains. I did not use durumvete for that one, though I just bought some yesterday to try in the next loaf!
A few of the things we've been missing the most arrived on our doorstep this afternoon. Thanks, Moo!
Right before moving, we scanned a bunch of my childhood photos. Check out the cars in the background. The one on the left was our Volvo, and the one on the right was our neighbor's Saab.
Yesterday we watched some kids play hockey...
...and couldn't pass up another opportunity for grilling out.
There are still some small details to take care of, like hanging up the rest of our pictures/paintings, but our apartment is basically set up now, finally!
We had a lovely visit with our good friends, the Johansson family, yesterday. They live in a town called Skene (pronounced something like whoen-ey), about 45 minutes outside of Göteborg. The annual outdoor market/carnival/town shin-dig was this weekend.
Despite the otherwise healthy diet, the Swedes have a love affair with hot dogs (korv). It doesn't matter where you are, there's always a hot dog stand (korvmoj) close by.
I guess this is where they go to throw up their hot dogs.
Some bizarre mushroom-like creatures were growing out of a slimey log in the Johansson yard.
Around Göteborg, it needs to rain at least once per day; those are the rules (even if it's an otherwise beautiful day). That didn't stop us from grilling, of course.
Here is my first attempt at making a kladdkaka, which is a DELICIOUS Swedish dessert, kind of like a really gooey brownie. I'm not quite used to adjusting recipes to work with our convection oven, though, so it came out overcooked. It still tasted good, but more like biscotti, so I'll just have to practice until I get it right.
What is this a picture of?
Answer to last week: Yup, it was a swimming pool. There is a hotel right off the main drag in town that has a pool on the roof that has a see-through section overhanging the edge. It just might be worth paying for a night there just to see what it's like to look at the city while underwater 7-8 stories up! Here is a wider shot:
It seems like just about everything is within a twenty-five minute walk from our apartment...including a ski jump or two.
Apparently all the Swedish rain made it to Wisconsin. Usually the lake is at least two feet below the pier, but not anymore. The water level got so high my dad had to weigh down the pier with cinder blocks so it wouldn't float away.
